Welcome to Think Atheist - Think Atheist2015-08-02T18:27:41Zhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/forum/categories/welcome-to-think-atheist/listForCategory?categoryId=1982180%3ACategory%3A41&feed=yes&xn_auth=noPlease allow me to introduce myselftag:www.thinkatheist.com,2015-01-16:1982180:Topic:15108142015-01-16T14:43:02.080ZJohn Jenningshttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/JohnJennings
<p>Greetings from chilly Illinois. I'm a retired police sergeant and I have been "out" as an atheist since I was 20 years old. When I was in my teen years, my dear grand parents introduced me to the bible and I began attending the church of god. It's a pentecostal church so I began to believe that I could have a personal relationship with god. I tried very hard to reach that goal by speaking in tongues, but I discovered that it was not going to happen. I was very disappointed and I began…</p>
<p>Greetings from chilly Illinois. I'm a retired police sergeant and I have been "out" as an atheist since I was 20 years old. When I was in my teen years, my dear grand parents introduced me to the bible and I began attending the church of god. It's a pentecostal church so I began to believe that I could have a personal relationship with god. I tried very hard to reach that goal by speaking in tongues, but I discovered that it was not going to happen. I was very disappointed and I began to back away from religion and my grand parents. I went to a public library and found a book by Timothy Ferris, "Coming of age in the milky way". It changed my life and I have been an atheist ever since. </p>
<p>I view all the worlds religions as cults one needs to escape from. My hero's are Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss and the late Christopher Hitchens. I hope to add my two cents once and a while and gain some insight. </p> Reintroduction?tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2015-01-13:1982180:Topic:15100882015-01-13T21:02:18.674ZDrewhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewShall
<p>Greetings again. My name is Andrew and thought I might ease back in with a reiterated introduction. I lurk here often, and desire to commit to a more regular presence on the board. It's encouraging to see the site expanding the way it has, and in concert with the accrued momentum of the atheist movement, I have decided to contribute actively to the secularist movement this year and onward.</p>
<p>Hope to make friends and keep the cogitation fluid.</p>
<p>Bonus Novus Annus.</p>
<p>Greetings again. My name is Andrew and thought I might ease back in with a reiterated introduction. I lurk here often, and desire to commit to a more regular presence on the board. It's encouraging to see the site expanding the way it has, and in concert with the accrued momentum of the atheist movement, I have decided to contribute actively to the secularist movement this year and onward.</p>
<p>Hope to make friends and keep the cogitation fluid.</p>
<p>Bonus Novus Annus.</p> New to the sitetag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-11-13:1982180:Topic:15005562014-11-13T02:34:13.093ZBretthttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BrettHeald
<p>Been floating around for a few days and figured I'd finally pop in to say hello.</p>
<p>I've been an atheist since I found out what they were in my teens (I'm 30 now). My family was never too religious, and never really tried to be so I didn't grow up in it very much. While we did attend a Presbyterian church as a child, it was never taken seriously. There was Sunday school when I was a child, but it was more seen as a babysitting service when needed. </p>
<p>No one in my family is what I…</p>
<p>Been floating around for a few days and figured I'd finally pop in to say hello.</p>
<p>I've been an atheist since I found out what they were in my teens (I'm 30 now). My family was never too religious, and never really tried to be so I didn't grow up in it very much. While we did attend a Presbyterian church as a child, it was never taken seriously. There was Sunday school when I was a child, but it was more seen as a babysitting service when needed. </p>
<p>No one in my family is what I would consider 'religious'. None of them go to church, not even on Christmas or Easter any more. They have bibles in their homes, but most have dust on them. But they all claim to be religious, except myself.</p>
<p>I find that in my comings across with religious people, I am a double threat. Not only am I open about my atheism, I also have long hair (down to my butt), tattoos, and I listen to death and black metal. I'm not really interested in discussing music as I find most people don't listen to what I do, or even come close and conversations usually devolve into unproductive nitpicking. </p>
<p>I'd consider myself Progressive on the political spectrum, a secularist and a humanist as well. I am willing to have my mind changed if reasonable evidence and proof is provided. However, I'm not here to communicate with religious people. I'm not interested in hearing repeats of arguments defeated long ago. </p>
<p>In reality I'm just a big dork. I tend to be quiet, I'm a big fan of sci-fi and Sci-fantasy as well as documentaries and video games. I run blogs for both metal music and video game music, and a podcast on general geekery also. </p> Happy to be heretag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-10-31:1982180:Topic:14985942014-10-31T05:38:32.183ZDavid Seidmanhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DavidSeidman
<p>Hi, everyone. I'm a writer whose next book, WHAT IF I'M AN ATHEIST?: A GUIDE FOR TEENAGERS, is coming out in March from Beyond Words, an imprint of Simon &amp; Schuster.</p>
<div class="post_link_correction" id="post_message_572856">Now that the book is done and I have a few moments to breathe, I thought I would hang around here and get into the community that I've been covering.<br/> <br/> Thanks for letting me join you.</div>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Hi, everyone. I'm a writer whose next book, WHAT IF I'M AN ATHEIST?: A GUIDE FOR TEENAGERS, is coming out in March from Beyond Words, an imprint of Simon &amp; Schuster.</p>
<div class="post_link_correction" id="post_message_572856">Now that the book is done and I have a few moments to breathe, I thought I would hang around here and get into the community that I've been covering.<br/> <br/> Thanks for letting me join you.</div>
<p><strong> </strong></p> Hello from Melbourne, Australiatag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-10-22:1982180:Topic:14968692014-10-22T10:31:27.030ZKarleehttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Karlee
<p>Hello I'm Karlee and I identify as a human being.</p>
<p>I believe in love, respect, tolerance, friendship, understanding, education, compassion, knowledge, wisdom and a whole host of other abstract ideas. I have what I think to be a pretty decent set of ethical and moral standards. I do my best to live on the principle of not harming others.</p>
<p>I have plenty of questions about the world and the universe we live in, and I am constantly reading and looking for new material to help me to…</p>
<p>Hello I'm Karlee and I identify as a human being.</p>
<p>I believe in love, respect, tolerance, friendship, understanding, education, compassion, knowledge, wisdom and a whole host of other abstract ideas. I have what I think to be a pretty decent set of ethical and moral standards. I do my best to live on the principle of not harming others.</p>
<p>I have plenty of questions about the world and the universe we live in, and I am constantly reading and looking for new material to help me to learn and gain knowledge. Oh I also happen to be very comfortable and at peace with my atheism.</p>
<p>I don't have the desire to argue with people about their individual beliefs. I can't be bothered and I don't really have enough background knowledge of any specific religion to debate. I will defend anyones right to hold a religious belief. However I abhor anyone who uses their belief as a tool to bring harm to others. Also I really don't appreciate people trying to convert me to their religion. I don't try to force people to reject their religion, so I expect them to do me the courtesy of respecting my atheism.</p>
<p>I'll probably do a lot more reading than posting, but I wanted to say hi instead of simply lurking.</p>
<p>Cheers, Karlee</p>
<p></p> ...Christian here who wants to talk to athiests...tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-10-18:1982180:Topic:14961942014-10-18T06:10:54.094ZIsraelhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Israel667
<p>I kept thinking how to make a title that stood out, hence I did the dots.</p>
<p>Hey I'm Israel</p>
<p>I'm somewhat new. Actually, I'm re-introducing myself. I haven't posted much in 2 years and I'm back. </p>
<p>Things I like:</p>
<p>God, philosophy, family and friends, video games, internetz, and basketball.</p>
<p>I'm more on the introverted side and I'm here for social reasons.</p>
<p>Tthanks for reading. =]</p>
<p></p>
<p>I kept thinking how to make a title that stood out, hence I did the dots.</p>
<p>Hey I'm Israel</p>
<p>I'm somewhat new. Actually, I'm re-introducing myself. I haven't posted much in 2 years and I'm back. </p>
<p>Things I like:</p>
<p>God, philosophy, family and friends, video games, internetz, and basketball.</p>
<p>I'm more on the introverted side and I'm here for social reasons.</p>
<p>Tthanks for reading. =]</p>
<p></p> Introduction.tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-10-15:1982180:Topic:14956252014-10-15T07:11:17.175ZCato (Kaito) Rigashttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/CatoRigas
<p>My name is Cato Rigas. Raised Catholic but abandoned that as a teenager. Had a brief stint as a Taoist for a couple years. Atheist and proud. In a loving relationship with a beautiful Shinto girl. Came to this website looking for advice about what to do when she asks me about my atheism. I'll be recording the details of it in my blog, not that I expect anyone to be interested, it'a mainly for my benefit.</p>
<p>My name is Cato Rigas. Raised Catholic but abandoned that as a teenager. Had a brief stint as a Taoist for a couple years. Atheist and proud. In a loving relationship with a beautiful Shinto girl. Came to this website looking for advice about what to do when she asks me about my atheism. I'll be recording the details of it in my blog, not that I expect anyone to be interested, it'a mainly for my benefit.</p> From unshakeable faith in Islam to absolute denial of it.tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-09-30:1982180:Topic:14932152014-09-30T21:11:22.081ZFree_yourmindhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Freeyourmind
<p><span>Hello everyone,</span></p>
<p><span>There was a time when I used to pity atheists and non-muslims in general for being so blinded from the truth. I didn't know back then how free they must have been feeling when debating me.</span></p>
<p><span>My loss of faith (or rather gain of freedom) started with the rise of the terrorist group "ISIS" which claims to be an Islamic state and a restoration of the noble muslim caliphate that followed the death of Muhammad. I was a strong opposer of…</span></p>
<p><span>Hello everyone,</span></p>
<p><span>There was a time when I used to pity atheists and non-muslims in general for being so blinded from the truth. I didn't know back then how free they must have been feeling when debating me.</span></p>
<p><span>My loss of faith (or rather gain of freedom) started with the rise of the terrorist group "ISIS" which claims to be an Islamic state and a restoration of the noble muslim caliphate that followed the death of Muhammad. I was a strong opposer of their ways and methods and always thought true Islam had nothing to do with killing and enslavement. It amazed me how every beheading and slaughter video was backed up by numerous verses from the Quran and Hadiths by Muhammad. At some point I started researhing those verses and what I was finding in the Quran was really shocking, not God-like and unfair in every way.</span></p>
<p><span>I had read Quran tens and tens of times before that; and stood in long Taraweeh prayers (during Ramadan evenings) listening and marvelling at the merciful, all just, but also rightfully proud and punishing Allah, never really analysing it or critiising the content or logic of it. I must note here that when you're debating a muslim, and state fallacies and ill logic in any verse or another, they would never even begin to question that verse, and there is always the "interpretation" escape route where they can take refuge without the shread of doubt that what you're saying is utter lies and ignorant criticism of a divine and perfect book.</span></p>
<p><span>During a single one hour read-and-study session, I was hit by no less that ten verses where the acts of killing, besieging, and enslavement were portrayed as noble and heroic deeds for which the reward will be gardens and virgins and even "young boys" in paradise (again, I had read all of that many times before but my mind never analysed any of it) I kept researching and looking for all the possible interpretations of verses but none of them made sense no matter how gentle it was. It was also full of stories already mentioned in the Bilbe with all the violence, incest and other evils of an ancient time. I then realized that Quran was merely a bad upgrade of the Bible with more myths and control mechanisms.</span></p>
<p><span>I began gradually to reject islam during Ramadan 2014 (august) I would eat and drink in secret just out of anger and frustration, since then I have made peace with the new reality and fully embraced my new found freedom and came to the new conviction that there is no such thing as God, ten ays ago. My purpose in life which now is to live it the fullest and be the best person I can be, living by my own moral code and human compassion that is way more sincere than a message that bribes you with the promise of great reward if you do good, and threatens you with eternal fire and lashing if you disobey the twisted rules of GOD! Both options being immoral and wrong in my understanding.</span></p>
<p><span>If it weren't for all the innocent deaths and horror taking place in Irak and Syria I would have shouted high and loud: Thank God for ISIS!...pardon the expression :p</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Glad and honored to be part of you guys, I am now free and truly saved!</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>All Hail Scientific Method! :D</span></p> ex-muslim saying hellotag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-09-30:1982180:Topic:14929812014-09-30T10:19:33.304ZTheVoidshttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/TheVoids
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>Im a college student from Egypt, and wanted to introduce myself, I come from a religious but moderate family, my journey to leaving religion was very slow, it started out as small doubts that began from disillusionment from events in Egypt that made me question the mainstream religious figures and teachings of islam but I always said to myself the true heart of islam cannot be this corrupt but the more I looked the more I became suspicious and sometimes shocked, and ofcourse…</p>
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>Im a college student from Egypt, and wanted to introduce myself, I come from a religious but moderate family, my journey to leaving religion was very slow, it started out as small doubts that began from disillusionment from events in Egypt that made me question the mainstream religious figures and teachings of islam but I always said to myself the true heart of islam cannot be this corrupt but the more I looked the more I became suspicious and sometimes shocked, and ofcourse Islam's complete ignorance and denial of science like denial of evolution. I was like this until I reached a point that I didnt want islam to affect my view of the world and affect my life.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I am currently an agnostic not an athiest, that may not sound impressive but atleast I finally rejected religion and dont I think I will be ever going back to it. and I have a great sense of freedom now because of that. the problem is it can get pretty lonely to have to keep it all to myself as i didnt confront anybody with it, and life in egypt is already hard without making it harder on myself.</p>
<p>Anyway its great to be here and hope to have interesting discussions with you guys.</p> I joined yesterday. Good to be here.tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2014-08-01:1982180:Topic:14808892014-08-01T17:30:57.411ZScott Kaelenhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/ScottKaelen
<p>Hi ladies and gents. I joined yesterday and for the love of the stars I couldn't find the forum, so I didn't introduce myself. I did figure out how to blog though, so I've done that already and joined in a couple of discussions.</p>
<p>A little bit about me: I'm 36, British, living permanently in Germany, life-long atheist and lover of science. Since 2001 I've been going slowly blind (like everything else in life, I don't need religion to get me through that). In the last couple of years…</p>
<p>Hi ladies and gents. I joined yesterday and for the love of the stars I couldn't find the forum, so I didn't introduce myself. I did figure out how to blog though, so I've done that already and joined in a couple of discussions.</p>
<p>A little bit about me: I'm 36, British, living permanently in Germany, life-long atheist and lover of science. Since 2001 I've been going slowly blind (like everything else in life, I don't need religion to get me through that). In the last couple of years I've rediscovered a passion for sketching, and discovered a new passion for writing fiction. I won't plug myself here and now, that would be a bit too shameless.</p>
<p>My interests include science fiction, fantasy, horror, astrophysics, geology, geography, languages, etymology, role playing computer games, reading, writing and drawing.<br/>I'm currently rewatching Star Trek in its entirety, chronologically, because I'm a nerd.</p>
<p>Glad to be among fellow atheists. ;)</p>